This week is National Suicide Prevention Week and Leon County Schools has created two videos in partnership with Neighborhood Medical Center aimed at ending the stigma surrounding mental health.

The public service campaign launched Monday. The two videos will be played at all area public high schools and middle schools. School district administration also will distribute the videos to parents through school listserv emails and publish them on various social media platforms, including at the www.knowingsignals.org website.

In one video, students from various Leon County schools look at the camera and say, "We're sending you signals every day." The second video urges kids to reach out to a trusted peer for help.

During National Suicide Prevention Week, Leon County Schools is reaching out to students with two videos promoting mental health awareness.
Leon County Schools, Special to the Democrat

The point of both videos is to encourage kids to speak out if they need help, and to start conversations about mental health, district Superintendent Rocky Hanna said. The topic is a personal one for the superintendent, whose wife lost her son to suicide a decade ago.

“It’s one thing for adults to deliver this message, but it’s a lot more powerful when they hear it from their peers," Hanna said, adding that the Leon County school system is becoming much more aggressive about preventing mental health crises.

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Leon County Schools Superintendent Rocky Hanna claps at the Friday morning ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new cafeteria and main office buildings at Fairview Middle School.(Photo: CD Davidson-Hiers/Tallahassee Democrat)

Theater students from Godby, Leon and Maclay schools contributed to the videos, he said.

“The video cuts across demographics because mental health does not discriminate across race or gender," Hanna said.

He added he hopes students will see faces they recognize in the videos and learn that "it is truly OK" to get help. Trey Fisher, son of former Florida State University football coach Jimbo Fisher, appears in both videos.

“The issue of mental health has moved to the forefront of conversations throughout the nation," Hanna said. “We’re excited, even if it just saves one life."

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